Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters from the Inuyasha universe. The rest is mine.
Chapter 21
Inuyasha rolled over in bed, throwing an arm over his eyes. It was too fucking early for the sun to be shining. One day. He just wanted one day where he could sleep in. He was drowning in work. Or it felt like it at least. Fuck. His father's ranch...the Higurashi's ranch...his house…
One day.
That's all he wanted. Was that too much to ask?
Apparently, yes.
Yes it was.
He groaned, removing his arm, staring at the ceiling. It was no use. He was up now, and might as well just deal with his day. More work around the ranch. More work at his house...He was gonna finish up the floor in his bedroom today. One step closer to at least maybe getting a bedframe and a mattress.
Yeah, he wanted to still slow down the majority of the work. But if he could sleep there…
Maybe?
He needed some coffee so he could think straight.
He cursed the sun as he sat up in bed, rubbing his face again before tugging on his sweatpants and a shirt. He liked to sleep in just a pair of boxer briefs in the summer, but like hell he was gonna walk into his family's kitchen wearing just that. He didn't need commentary from his brother. Or, on occasion, father.
He lethargically stumbled out of his room to the bathroom, quickly brushing his teeth before lumbering down the stairs, and kissing his mother on the cheek.
"Well! Good morning sleepy head."
"Mornin' Ma," he mumbled, kissing her cheek back before finding the pot of coffee.
"Did you sleep well?"
"Lika log."
He thought he did at least. He vaguely remembered a panicked dream about trying to figure out this fucking weekend away with Kikyo...but he was going to deal with that stress later. One life problem at a time, right?
"That's good!" his mother smiled, and his ear flicked towards the door. He heard a large vehicle coming up the way, and he perked up a little.
It could be his damn lights! Or tiles! They should be here any day now. He quickly took a few deep gulps of his coffee before putting his cup down and stepping outside.
Sure enough, it was the mailman, Herman.
He waved him down as the mail truck came to a stop just outside their house.
"Hey there Herman!" he greeted as the man hopped out, opening the side of the truck.
"Morning Inuyasha! I'm glad ya came out here...I have a lot of stuff for you."
"Oh good!" He grinned, coming around to the side of the truck. "I've been waiting for these for a while! I bet it's the lights and the tiles I ordered for my house!"
"I'm...not so sure about that…" Herman replied slowly, handing Inuyasha a plastic mailbox. It was filled with other boxes and letters, and Inuyasha's brows furrowed together in confusion.
"What…?" he mumbled, perplexed by what Herman was handing him. "Herman? This...is for me?"
"Look at the letter," he shrugged, and Inuyasha plucked one from within the plastic box.
"Inuyasha Takahashi…" he mumbled. That was his name alright. He selected another one, and another, and another...They all had his name on it… "What on earth…" he pondered, scratching his head in confusion.
"Would ya help me with this box? I have another two in the truck for you too."
"...Two?!"
"I didn't send 'em. Did you do something, Inuyasha?"
"Not that I know of…" He mumbled, grabbing the first box from Herman and bringing it into the house.
"Baby?" his mother asked when she saw him carrying it, Herman following closely behind.
"I dunno," he shrugged "It's not what I ordered though…" He turned around and took the other box as Herman went out to grab the last for him. Inuyasha reached in and grabbed a cardboard box from within the mail carrier as his brother and father pulled up to the house. He heard Pops pause to talk to Herman, but Sesshomaru - ever the opportunist - made a beeline for the house.
He was more than a little curious to see what all the commotion was about, and Inuyasha rolled his eyes as Sesshomaru began poking through his letters.
"Well shit Inuyasha...the fuck did ya do?"
"I wish I knew," he shrugged, slicing the box open with his claws, and the scent of banana bread hit his nostrils.
Why the hell was he getting banana bread?
He pulled it out of the box, and handed it to his mother, plucking a letter folded in thirds from the bottom. He opened it, and a photograph fluttered to the kitchen table, which Sesshomaru quickly snatched before he could.
"What in the world," he mumbled. "She's cute…" he commented, flippin the picture around to show him a pretty blond haired woman with brown eyes and rosy cheeks. She had a small gap between her front two teeth, but it only added to her charm.
He unfolded the letter from the box and felt all of the blood drain from his face as he sat down.
"Baby?" his mother asked, coming to stand beside him. "What's wrong?"
"I…" he couldn't.
He was too shocked. He just held up the letter and Sesshomaru grabbed it before his mother could. He laughed as soon as he read it.
"Dear Inuyasha. I was recently reading the Living Simply website, and found an article about you and the house you are building, written by a Kagome Higurashi. Your story is beautiful, and you seem like a truly wholesome and hardworking man. I wanted to send you a photograph of my grandaughter. If you are not otherwise seeing someone at the moment, I thought that perhaps she might catch your eye. You are a very handsome young man…"
Sesshomaru actually paused to laugh at that...but Inuyasha wasn't finding it very funny at the moment.
"And I thought that if you were interested, you might like to reach out to her. She's a very smart young woman…"
He stopped paying attention. He couldn't. His mind was whirling as he reached into the box of mail and plucked out another box.
Chocolate chip cookies, and another letter, with another photograph of a woman. This time, brunette with green eyes.
He opened another, and it had blueberry muffins, and...yes. Another fucking letter.
"What's going on?" Touga asked as he entered the kitchen, with the other box from Herman. "Someone want to explain to me why Inuyasha has a box of mail?"
"Three," Sesshomaru corrected, a shit eating grin on his face as he munched on one of the chocolate chip cookies.
"Don't eat that!" Inuyasha snapped, and Sesshoamru just rolled his eyes.
"Please...Like you'll be able to eat all of this on your own. You'll get fatter."
"That's not explaining much…"
"How about this?" Sesshomaru asked, showing his father his phone. Touga took it from him, and raised his brow. "It seems...Inuyasha has a fan club of Dorises and Maureens and Susans who would like him as a grandson-in-law.
"Huh," Touga replied, plucking a cookie from the same bag Sesshomaru had taken his from. "Why don't ya use the baby oil next time Inuyasha? Someone might send a cheesecake."
"Why doesn't he...What on earth are you boys talking about?" his mother pressed, and Touga reluctantly handed her the phone, making her gasp. "Oh my Lord…"
"What is going on?!" Inuyasha finally snapped, taking the phone from his mother. "I...What?!"
He was looking at the latest article Kagome had written...One about painting his house.
And there.
The first thing you saw on the whole damn page.
Was a picture of him shirtless as he painted the walls. He had told her to delete that! They were just fucking around after Kikyo left. He was trying to raise her spirits...and his at the same time...and she decided to start snapping more photos of him, so he decided to fuck around and pretend he was in a music video. Give her "glamor" shots. But she had promised she would delete them!
Not fucking post them on her fucking magazine's website!
"The chocolate chip cookies are really good, not going to lie," Sesshomaru commented, reaching for another one of his boxes and opening it. "Ugh. Oatmeal bars. Who is this from...Stacy? Stacy needs to learn that it should at least have chocolate if we're going to consider calling her...Oh this is a new one. It's for her."
"I AIN'T CALLING ANYONE!" Inuyasha burst out, snatching one of the bins off the table.
"Wait! One of them could have cheesecake in it! Inuyasha, where are you going with that?"
"TO TALK TO KAGOME!"
Inuyasha grabbed the plastic mail bin from beside him and slammed the truck door shut, stomping his way up to the Higrashi's house. He angrily jabbed his thumb into their door bell, wrapping his arm back around the middle of the box as he waited for someone to open up. When no one immediately came, he rang the bell again, doing his best to try and get some of his temper in check so he didn't break the damn thing.
Mrs. Higurashi showed up a moment later, opening the door and smiling at him with warm surprise.
"Inuyasha," she greeted stepping aside to allow him to enter. "What a wonderful surprise!"
"Is Kagome in?" he ground out through clenched teeth, and her mother looked at him in surprise. His tone was brisk and strained. He was clearly in a poor mood, and he could tell she was already bracing herself for something.
"What's the matter, Inuyasha," she tried to sooth, but he didn't want to be soothed right now. He wanted to fucking yell, and scream, and ask her what the hell was she thinking?
He wasn't fucking meat! She couldn't just...just...do that to him!
"I need to speak with her about the article she wrote. Now, please, if she's home. I'll wait if she ain't."
Mrs. Higurashi's shoulders slumped, and he could tell that she wanted to get him to calm at least a little before he rained down on her daughter, but she must have decided that it was better if she stayed out of it.
"She's in her room sweetie," she nodded, and he gave her his thanks, stomping up the stairs as she followed. "What's going on," she pressed, still trying to calm him at least a little, but he didn't want to be calmed!
He wanted Kagome to take the damn photo down! And make all the baked goods go away.
"Kagome," he pounded on her door, the wood rattling on it's metal hinges. "Kagome, open up."
She did, and she looked at him with surprise.
"Inuyasha—"
"—Do you know what just happened?" he pressed, moving past her into her room. "You probably have no idea, do ya?" he continued before she could respond. "But your little stunt that you pulled? Herman just showed up at our house with two more of these," he explained sharply, dumping the bin and it's contents onto her bed. Letters flew everywhere as boxes of baked goods scattered across her comforter.
"What is it," she asked nervously, and he picked up a random letter, shoving it at her.
"Open it. Go ahead."
She looked terrified as she did, and this time, instead of banana bread or cookies, a plastic ziplock baggie fell out containing women's underwear.
"W-what…"
"Here!" he snapped, shoving another one at her. That one had been a fluke. Maybe the boxes were actually safer. Who the hell sent red lacy panties?!
Her hands were shaking a little as she ripped the letter open and unfolded.
"Read it," he insisted, balling his hands into trembling fists.
"Oh my God...Inuyasha—"
"—Why the fuck did ya do it Kagome?!" he burst, unable to contain himself longer.
"Inuyasha...I...Oh my God!"
"Will someone please tell me what's going on!" her mother interjected, clearly confused, and Kagome shakily shoved the letter at her as she sprinted to her computer, hitting buttons to wake it up and log on.
"You told me you were going to delete those!" Inuyasha continued as her mother gasped. "You told me they were just for fucking fun! That we were goofing around! Not that you were using me as fucking eye candy for your fucking website so you could improve your fucking numbers!"
"That's not what happened!" she insisted, pulling up the website with her article on it. "Oh...My...God…" she breathed in abject horror.
"No?" he snapped, brandishing his finger at the shirtless photo of him on the screen. "Then how the hell do ya explain that! God dammit Kagome! Is this what ya wanted? Why ya asked me to do all of this?"
"No! Oh my God, Inuyasha I had no idea this happened! You have to believe me…" she pleaded, already pulling up the photos from the day they were painting his house. He could smell the tears springing to her eyes as she typed. "Just...just give me a minute, and I'll fix it."
"It's a little late for that! I have a fucking bakery at my house...and maybe hald a lingerie store in these damn letters!"
"It wasn't intentional," she swore again, tears spilling down her cheeks as her bottom lip began to tremble.
"Inuyasha, Sweetie," her mother tried to soothe, running her hands up and down his trembling back. "Why don't you give her a second to explain...She said she has an explanation…" Yet, even she smelled skeptical and horrified.
"Fine...what do ya have ta say for yourself?" he demanded, and she took a shaky breath, trying to calm herself and explain.
"I-It was late...And I had spent the whole day working on painting the house with you so I was exhausted...I was trying to get the article done and proofed...the coffee wasn't really working anymore, so I just...I grabbed one of the photos I had on my desktop as a placeholder and uploaded it and I swear I thought I hit the save draft button, not the publish now button, and I didn't catch it and...Inuyasha...I'm so, so sorry…"
He tried to take a small, subtle whiff in her direction, just to see if she smelled as remorseful as she looked, and she did.
"Kagome...why did you even still have that photo of me? You told me you deleted all of them…"
Her mother took that as her cue to leave the room, deciding that he wasn't going to murder her only daughter. From the way Kagome turned bright red through the tears, she probably didn't want to know the answer either. He was very interested in it, however.
"I...Couldn't delete all of them," she blushed, wiping at her cheeks with the palms of her hands. "I...I kept a few of them…"
"But why?" he pressed, and she glanced down in embarrassment, her scent spiking ever so slightly.
"You weren't...Kagome, were they for your spank bank?"
"What?! No!" she gasped indignantly.
Her scent was telling him otherwise.
"They were!"
"I-I...I was holding onto them in case you wanted them for a dating website or something!"
"You're such a liar!" he replied, his body and tone relaxing from the angry state it had been in before, into a slightly amused one. "You were totally gonna look at them when ya were all alone and use them as bean flicking material!"
"Would you stop," she snapped, her cheeks bright red as she reached for a white stuffed toy dog he had given her when they were younger and threw it at him. He caught it, laughing at how flustered she was.
"I mean, if ya'd asked, I would have given ya more than just a shirtless photo to use..."
"INUYASHA!"
"Women are sending me panties! I think I'm allowed to make a masterbation joke, Kagome," he replied, throwing the toy back at her, and she caught it, putting it back on the desk next to her.
"Just...give me a moment and I'll get this photo down and replace it with one I actually wanted to use. Oh my god...I didn't even completely edit the article...How the hell have I not received an angry phone call from my boss yet?!"
"I dunno...Maybe she thought it was intentional. Rest of us sure as hell did."
"Well it wasn't! Oh my god," she groaned again, loading the photo into some smaller screen on her computer before clicking and typing away on the website.
"There," she announced after a minute, refreshing the page. "It's down."
"Yeah, but...Ya gotta wonder how many old biddies saved it or sent it around before ya did that."
"Oh god…" she moaned, burying her face in her hands, crying. "Inuyasha...I'm so sorry...I didn't...I swear this wasn't intentional...I'd never...I didn't mean to…"
"I believe ya," he sighed. He couldn't be mad at her. He had every right to be, but he couldn't do it. Not when it was an accident. He came to stand in front of her, pulling her into his chest, and running his hands up and down her back. He had come to give her what for, and he had, but he hadn't expected to end up here.
Comforting her from what she had done.
"I don't think you're meat. I wasn't trying to pimp you out…"
"But ya did," he mumbled despite his better judgement, and she groaned again. "Did I at least help ya with your numbers?"
"I'm not even thinking about that right now," she replied honestly, pulling her face away from his abdomen.
"What are you thinking about? My shirtless torso?"
Other parts of his body?
"I am not!" she squeaked, and he picked her up, ignoring her squeals as he brought her over to her bed. He laid her down in his lap as she sat near her pillows, away from his mountain of fan mail.
"So...Was it good?" he smirked and she looked at him in confusion as she settled against him.
"Was what good?" she replied, furrowing her perfect brows.
"You know…" he hinted, a fang peeking out of the corner of his mouth. "Your solo act."
"My...Inuyasha!" she squeaked, her eyes going wide as saucers as she figured out what he meant. "I didn't do...that to a photo of you!"
He took a couple of deep sniffs, loud enough to embarrass her and she squeaked, smacking his chest and telling him to quit it. He could...holy shit! He could smell traces of...something still lingering in her bed sheets!
Shit! She totally had!
"You can be honest with me, ya know. You can say you're attracted to me."
She turned bright red again and he fucking loved it.
"Yes. Ok? Does that make you feel better?"
"Did it make you feel better?" he countered, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively.
"No!" she snapped, and he grinned cheekily at her irritation.
"Shame...I could always do a live show for ya if that would be better…"
"Inuyasha!"
"...That ain't a no…"
"It's a no!"
"Ok then...well...how about we open some of this? Someone is bound to have sent something good."
"Yeah - that's exactly what I want. Horny grandma baked goods."
"Hell of a company tagline - what do ya think their name would be? Dusty Muffins?"
"Granny Goodies?"
He straight out laughed at that, and he heard footsteps receding down the hall. Her mother must have stayed to make sure everything would be ok. That must have been her cue that they were fine.
"To be fair, they weren't askin' ta sleep with me or nothing. They were just pimping their single grandkids out to me."
"See anyone you like?"
"Please...I have my hands full with just Kikyo right now. I don't need to add a second woman to the mix."
...Unless it was Kagome. Then he'd just...keep her. Say to hell with the rest of them.
If Kagome was an option for him…
He mentally sighed and gave himself a little shake. What ifs were a dangerous path to go down, no matter how pretty a picture they painted.
And life with her...Well...It could be a very pretty picture.
But he knew he shouldn't be looking at it. No matter how much he wanted to.
He felt her completely relax in his arms, bringing his attention back to her, and he plucked a box from the pile, deftly slicing open the tape and handing it to her.
"What's in the box?"
"Hopefully not a head," she snorted, and he chuckled, leaning forward to nip her jawline.
He heard her heart beat faster in her chest, and it made him smile a little.
"Open it," he prodded, giving himself another mental shake, and she pulled out a bag of snicker doodles. He opened it as she pulled out the latest letter, this time asking him to email a daughter...and if he didn't like her...there were two others where she came from.
"They're cute," Kagome commented, showing him the photos.
"Eh," he shrugged, biting into the cookie. "Mmm...Their mom sure knows how to bake though," he commented as he chewed, and Kagome scrunched up her nose.
"Don't talk and chew at the same time," she reprimanded...which was a mistake on her part. All it did was encourage him to do it more, and she shrieked in disgust when he made her look at it. "You're so gross!"
"Yeah...but ya love me anyways," he winked, trying hard to ignore the way she stilled and looked down into her lap before grabbing another box.
"Shall we see what's in this one?"
"Sure," he agreed, holding the other half of his snickerdoodle up to her lips. "Try it," he pressed, taking the box from her and using his pinky to slice it open.
"It's not bad...Almost worth the call…" she commented, biting into the cookie he held before he popped the rest of it into his mouth.
"No amount of baked goods will be worth the call."
"I dunno," she commented, taking out fudge from inside the box. "This might be worth it…" she mused, unwrapping one of the squares and biting into it. "Hmmm…" she pondered as she chewed, and he took her hand, making her bring the fudge up to his lips.
He took a bite, gently and intentionally scraping his fang against the tip of her finger. She shivered lightly, and he internally smirked at her reaction.
"Good…" he commented, glancing over the letter she handed him. "But she's in her fifties...Not sure I want an older woman like that...She could be my mother!"
"Not your type?"
"My type is…"
What was his type?
He liked women who were smart, and funny. Women who liked to tease him and give him grief with a twinkle in their eye. Women who challenged him and weren't afraid to back down from a fight. He liked women who were beautiful. Black hair...blue eyes...curves that made his mouth dry, and legs for days…
He liked women who were…
Who were...
...Childhood friends, before more...
God...he still wanted her, didn't he? He still wanted to hold her and kiss her...feel her arms wrap around his body...feel her lips on his skin...hear her whisper sweet nothings into his ear...He wanted what they had once had. He wanted her to be his again.
This woman wasn't his type, because his type was the woman sitting in his lap.
His type was Kagome.
"Younger," he finally whispered, swallowing hard at the realization, even as she fed him the rest of the fudge, and he slowly licked the chocolate from her fingers.
His type was Kagome.
And he was fucked.
Inuyasha sighed as he cut the engine on the truck, looking at the plastic mail bin beside him. He had spent almost the entire day with Kagome, making up and casually teasing each other and trying some of everything that had been sent to him. Unfortunately he had in fact received more than one pair of panties...and they met a fiery death in her family's fire pit. Along with all of the letters and pictures.
It felt good. Cathartic.
And he was almost looking forward to doing it with the other two boxes, if his father and brother hadn't already gone through all of them looking for cheesecake. He wouldn't have been surprised if that was in there too. People had sent him a little bit of everything, apparently.
Rum balls, coffee cake, sugar cookies…
You name it, it had been sent to him, along with a letter and a photo.
He grabbed the plastic mailer from the seat beside him and left the truck, closing the door with his hip. He had done absolutely nothing today. Hadn't worked on his flooring. Hadn't worked on either of the ranches…
He was calling it a personal day.
He was allowed to have those now and again, right?
The weather door clamored shut behind him as he entered the kitchen, the smell of lasagna permeating the air still as he dropped the box on the table.
Shame he didn't feel hungry. He loved his mom's lasagna.
...Maybe he could still sneak a forkful from the fridge?
He turned around to grab a fork from the silverware drawer and moved to the fridge...and paused in his steps.
Someone...any by someone, he really knew Sesshomaru…Had printed out the article Kagome had written and tapped it to the fridge with the words, "your baby oil will be here next week" under it.
He couldn't kill his brother...his mother would kill him.
He couldn't kill his brother...his mother would kill him.
He heard a catcall from the other room, and he snatched the photo off the fridge.
Fuck it.
Death would be worth it.
A/N:
IT'S ALMOST HERE!
But if you can't wait…Hit up my tumblr (lemonlushff) for details on how to read it early!
Special thanks to the following people who reviewed since the last update – THANK YOU!
RedViolet11, Reesexxoo, kagomesdouble07, Celestial-Aphrodite, aislyn98, Yasha19, kaebear89, Lola1991, LayLay lives, questions, LucyDEU, Bwby. Angwl, Guest (1 and 2), DarkRyder7, HammyJessa, Alita Reinhart, Gicu2I read each and every review, and THANK YOU! They are a great reminder that people want me to keep doing this and posting! THANK YOU FOR THE SUPPORT!
Until next time…
-LL